Apocolypse ... now?

I had one of those weird experiences today. I had to run to the grocery store (it involved a bath towel with sour milk on it, but that's for another time) and noticed as I got to the south end of town that the traffic lights were out. Not just blinking red, or blinking green but out. The first intersection I thought, "Hmmm, that's odd" but I was turning right so didn't hang around to notice what the rest of traffic was doing. But then the next one was out. And the next one too. SIX traffic lights in a row - NOTHING.

I will say I experienced a moment of community pride. People adapted very quickly and everyone took their turn getting through the multi-lane intersections. Nobody panicked, everyone just slowed down enough to evaluate what was going on and went about their business.

Then I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and experienced a moment of community weird. Hmmm, not many cars here for a Friday afternoon. And, look, the stores are looking kind of dark too. Maybe I should come back later. But I really don't want to go back home to terry cloth souring on my laundry room floor. Well, can't hurt to ask.

Turns out the store was still open but anything refrigerated or frozen was now swathed in cardboard that would NOT be moved, "NO EXCEPTIONS", reminded the staff member at the door.

Can I still pay?

Of course! Nothing wrong with the phone lines, and the tills are running on emergency generator power. You just can't pay for milk or eggs because remember NO EXCEPTIONS to the cardboard cozy rule. Oh, but you can go into the beer cooler.

Huh?

There have been a lot of strange predictions about the coming cold and flu season. Apparently my government has the right to quarantine and vaccinate the population however it sees fit once a health emergency is declared. People are being advised to stock up on groceries and medicines just in case this swine flu gets out of hand. It can sound kind of alarmist.

I think today gave me a bit of a sense of what that might look like. Or what Hurricane (fill-in-the-blank) survivors might have faced. Actually, I enjoyed grocery shopping today. You never realize how much background noise is in your day until it all goes away. And the soft lighting and unhurried people gave it a sense of canned-goods-zen. I think most people will still look out for others as best they can.

But maybe I should get a couple chickens if they're going to keep locking up the eggs. Or a cow. I'm not sure beer would be quite the same on my Cheerios.